January 15, 2017

Sunday Devotional With Mr. E: Be Your Best & Do Your Best

Over the years I've seen many artists fight themselves. They fight with their skill set because they think they should be better or different than they are. They fight with their ideas because they feel it doesn't say enough or what the current trends in art are. Even though it is good to strive to improve & question one's self....fighting with yourself usually ends in feeling defeated & being ineffective. I was told my style was not appropriate for the medium I was using & my subject matter was all wrong. I wrestled with what was said to me, and for a time I felt like giving up. However, I realized that my artistic voice had a place in the midst of all the noise in the art world. I had something to say & a unique way of saying it.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
1Peter 4:10-11

We all have skills that can be used to glorify God & reach out to those he has placed in our path. However, we often find ourselves defeated & ineffective because we are trying to operate outside of how we were designed. We see others who seem so skilled & gifted....and we want to be like them. We were created to be ourselves. We need to look at the unique person God made us to be, and be the very best version of that. We also need to make sure we are faithful with gifts & talents we have been given. If we are not employing those skills they are not doing the kingdom, others, or ourselves any good. Gifts are to be given.

Are you using your gifts/talents/skills to glorify God? If not, why? What is holding you back from being your best & doing your best for the kingdom? In this new year, think about what you can do to employ all of who you are for the service of the King.

2 comments:

Amen. Thanks for speaking directly to my heart today. This is a root issue of mine & has been a lifelong struggle. Since I've become an Art teacher, I can see and feel God working this out in me, with my teaching and advice to the kids & in my relationships with the students. Wonderful little piece of writing! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.